Israeli lawmakers move to recognize Armenian genocide amid Turkey row

Frontnpagemagazine ^ | May 16, 2018 | Lahav Harkov

[SJackson]

Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuly and Likud MK Amir Ohana stated they would submit legislation to make Israel the 30th country to recognize the Armenian genocide.

Bills to recognize the Armenian Genocide by the Turks were back on the Knesset’s agenda on Wednesday, after Turkey and Israel expelled each other’s envoys.

Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuly and Likud MK Amir Ohana both said they would submit legislation to make Israel the 30th country to recognize the genocide of 1915, in which the Ottoman Empire took the lives of 1.5 million Armenians.

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The move came as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at Israel for defending its border with the Gaza Strip from Palestinian rioters. Erdogan recalled his ambassador from Israel and, on Twitter, called Israel “an apartheid state that has occupied a defenseless people’s lands for 60+ years,” thus saying the Jewish state’s existence is not legitimate, as opposed to just its presence in the disputed West Bank since 1967.

Netanyahu is the PM of an apartheid state that has occupied a defenseless people's lands for 60+ yrs in violation of UN resolutions.

He has the blood of Palestinians on his hands and can't cover up crimes by attacking Turkey.

Want a lesson in humanity? Read the 10 commandments. — Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RT_Erdogan) May 15, 2018

After Jerusalem withdrew its ambassador from Ankara, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that Erdogan is a supporter of Hamas terrorism, the MKs said the time has come to recognize the Armenian Genocide by the Turks, a move that Israel has avoided because of relations with Ankara.

Erdogan is among Hamas's biggest supporters and there is no doubt that he well understands terrorism and slaughter. I suggest that he not preach morality to us — Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 15, 2018

Shmuly said: “We won’t accept moralizing from the antisemitic Turkish butcher who bombs thousands of Kurds in northwest Syria every day and whose country is responsible for the genocide of the Armenian people and the historic horrors toward the Assyrians.”

The Zionist Union MK added that recognition of the genocide should have happened long ago.

Ohana said the diplomatic rationale behind not acknowledging the genocide no longer exists, and “it’s not too late to do justice. The time has come to officially recognize the terrible injustice done to the Armenians.

“When Hitler presented Wehrmacht officers with his plan for mass extermination in Poland, including of women and children, he soothed the concerns about the world’s reaction by saying, ‘Who, after all, speaks today of the Armenians?’ For that reason alone we should have already officially recognized this genocide,” Ohana said.

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid proposed a bill to recognize the genocide earlier this year, but it was voted down in February, which means it cannot be submitted again until August.

He called for Israel to downgrade ties with Ankara, and not just temporarily, along with recognizing the Armenian Genocide, openly helping the Kurds and encouraging the US to remove Turkey from NATO.

“We don’t reconcile with antisemites like Erdogan,” Lapid said. “The time has come for the government to say what has been clear for a long time: Erdogan is part of the axis of Islamic terrorism.”

The Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

A diplomatic source said the situation is delicate and strategic, and it would be Netanyahu’s decision whether to recognize the genocide.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, a close Netanyahu ally, sounded unenthusiastic about the idea in an interview with Kann Bet radio.

“I don’t think that this is the right way to do it. If we want to make a decision like this, it should be about the matter itself. Doing it as a punishment for the Turks doesn’t respect the matter. It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to do this,” Levin argued, and expressed optimism that Israel-Turkey ties would improve.

Levin also discouraged Israelis from traveling to Turkey, a popular tourist destination, saying that many Israelis have encountered hostility while there.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein has called for the legislature to recognize the Armenian Genocide, as did his predecessor, President Reuven Rivlin. Many bills to recognize the atrocities were proposed and voted down over the years, but the Knesset Education, Culture and Sport Committee has voted to recognize the genocide.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

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Not really sure that recognition is particularly significant, but it is a long established fact, and there's no reason not to.

[BuffaloJack]

The Armenian Genocide is fact not some name calling piece of BS. The truth hurts.

[Original Lurker]

This is going to be juicy!

[Karliner]

Wasn't there a big deal about not accepting the Armenian genocide in Barry Soetero's years of tyranny? I have a vague memory he backed down from Turkey's saber rattling sometime when that "Freedom Flotilla" was boarded and found to have had a bunch of terrorists on board

Freedom Flotilla

[redgolum]

LOL!

I like some of the Turkish people. Not a fan of Erogon. I want the Hagia Sophia returned.

But in this case.

Blast them. Let’s call a spade a spade and stop pretending. I am held accountable for things that no one in my family participated in, let alone me personally. The Turkish government decided to solve the Armenian problem, and provided a template to the SS (one they acknowledged).

Though we are inching toward a situation where a NATO member is going to be at war with Israel. All kidding aside, that is a heck of a mess.

[CodeToad]

One of my good friends is the grand son of an Armenian immigrant. HIs grandfather was a very successful man and spoke of the Turkish holocaust of the Armenian people.

[Lurker]

“Though we are inching toward a situation where a NATO member is going to be at war with Israel. All kidding aside, that is a heck of a mess.”

IIRC the NATO Charter forbids a member State from attacking anyone without express consent. Such a move would require us to finally kick Turkey out of the organization.

L

[Psalm 144]

“The Armenian Genocide is fact not some name calling piece of BS. The truth hurts.”

It really burns the Turks to get called on it too, across their demographic spectrums, they seethe when called on it.

The photos are as horrible as any atrocities anywhere.

[straps]

The Turkish government refused us the right of passage made by Colin Powell an never ever forget it. The Turks have a habit of murdering complete sections of humanity instead of sitting down and talking things thru...Sounds identical like the American Democrat Party....